


Names

by masquerade97



Series: Jewish!Cas [3]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: Gen, M/M, jewish!cas
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-23
Updated: 2018-04-23
Packaged: 2019-04-26 16:41:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 567
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14406228
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/masquerade97/pseuds/masquerade97
Summary: Cas and Dean talk about names





	Names

**Author's Note:**

> this has officially become my favorite fic in this series (at least so far)! why? bc lovely Jewish fans comment and tell me about their Hebrew names!! you're all wonderful and thank you for telling me about them!

“Hey, why do you have two names?” Dean asked abruptly, as if the thought had just occurred to him.

“Hm?” Cas had been looking out the car’s window, watching the stars glide slowly across the view.

“At the carnival, you said your legal name is James, and your Hebrew name is Castiel,” Dean said. “Why not just have one name?”

“Oh,” Cas said. “Well, James comes from the fact that my dad’s brother is Judah. But we don’t name children after living relatives, so my name just had to start with a ‘J.’”

“That’s a rule?”

“Not exactly. But my parents agreed to name me for my uncle, since he and my dad are close,” Cas explained. “But James isn’t Hebrew. It comes from Jacob, which is, but I have a cousin whose Hebrew name is _Ya’akov_ , which is Jacob–”

“So you couldn’t be _Ya’akov_ ,” Dean said, saying the name slowly so he could mimic Cas’ pronunciation. “Or Jacob.”

“Right,” Cas said. “And my mom’s dad is _Calev_ , which is Caleb, so my Hebrew name starts with the same sound.”

“But why not use the same name for both your Hebrew and legal names?” Dean asked. “Like, using the two as first and middle names?”

Cas thought a moment before trying to explain. Most of the people in his community had two different names, unless the name was the same or similar in both Hebrew and English. Like Hannah was just _Hannah_. His friend Elijah was _Eliyahu_. But Mandy was _Keshet_ , and he hadn’t ever thought of that as strange.

“I think the answer is more complicated than you think it is,” Cas said, a slight smile in his voice in the darkness. “My name is _Castiel ben Doron v’Michal_. My legal name doesn’t really have anything to do with that, since it follows different rules. The fact that my birth certificate says James Novak doesn’t mean as much to me.”

Dean was quiet for long enough that Cas thought maybe the subject had been dropped. Then Dean’s fingers drummed on the steering wheel and he asked, “Why is your Hebrew name so significant?”

Cas considered the curious tone of Dean’s voice. He’d asked himself that question several times when he’d considered no longer going by James. “When I’m called up to the Torah, I’m called using my Hebrew name. Or if someone were praying for healing for me, they’d call me by my Hebrew name,” Cas said. “And there’s history in my name, since _ben_ is ‘son of’ and _Doron v’Michal_ are my father and mother.” There was something else too, a connection that resonated somewhere in his soul that he couldn’t name and didn’t think he could describe. It wasn’t a weight, per se, but something about the name felt _right_. “My Hebrew name feels like me,” he finally said.

Silence settled in the car again as Dean pulled off on their exit. There were more streetlights out here, closer to school. The houses started to come closer together.

“I was named after my grandmother,” Dean finally said. “Deanna. And Sam was named after our grandfather Samuel.”

Cas smiled. “I have an uncle _Shmuel_. That’s Samuel.”

Dean chuckled. “ _Shmuel_. I like that.”

“That’s what you should call him next time you see him,” Cas suggested.

“That’s what I’m changing his name to in my phone,” Dean joked.

“You do that,” Cas said with a laugh.

**Author's Note:**

> i was thinkin' about Cas' name in the last story and felt like expanding on it  
> ft. some naming customs from my own family and my own musings on naming  
> [i'm over here if you wanna talk](http://titlecomingsoon.tumblr.com/)


End file.
